Mayweather won by majority decision, with one judge scoring it a draw and the other two giving him the fight by sizable margins.

Although Mayweather seemed to get the upper hand on Maidana in the latter rounds, the fight remained competitive throughout.

Mayweather threw about half as many punches (426) as Maidana did (858), but he landed nine more (230). Still, the 221 punches Maidana landed were the most by any Mayweather opponent in the 38 fights for which CompuBox has been keeping statistics.

Early on, Mayweather let Maidana, 30, bring the fight to him in close quarters, as if to make it more exciting than it needed to be. Maidana threw many looping punches and pinned Mayweather, 37, to the ropes. Maidana was aggressive and rough, and he and Mayweather tangled several times. The referee, Tony Weeks, stopped the fight at one point to warn Maidana for the roughhousing.

“A tough, competitive fight that the fans wanted to see,” Mayweather said in the ring afterward. “I wanted to give the fans an exciting fight.”

Mayweather maintained his WBC and WBA welterweight titles and his record now stands at 46-0.